BASE OF NEW RED SYSTEM WEST OF WORCESTER. 



greater abundance than the other materials, and gives the mass a trappean character, 

 resembling that of the well-known Heavitree conglomerate near Exeter. The beds 

 dip south-south-east 18°, but the argillaceous and sandy strata of the Old Red System 

 on which they rest, are inclined in an opposite direction. 



Deep red 3 thick-bedded, soft sandstones occupy all the country about Redmarly-Dabitot, wrap- 

 ping round the southern edges of the Ledbury and Malvern Hills ; but there is, here and there } 

 (Bromesbarrow) a trace of an underlying conglomerate. Towards the east, these red sandstones 

 pass beneath the red and green marls (Keuper) described in the preceding pages. The base of 

 the system is ill exhibited along the eastern flauks of the Malvern ridge, being deeply denuded, 

 and overspread by much detritus. It has been already stated that the marls of the formation are 

 here much developed ; they are indeed prolonged so far to the west that a small space alone is left 

 for the sandstones. This is well seen on the road from Tewkesbury to Ledbury. The red sandy 

 and conglomerated beds are, however, visible in one or two spots, at and near Great Malvern, on 

 the upper side of the main road, adhering to the steep slopes of the syenite. A farm-yard 

 north of the Foley Arms, has been excavated in the surrounding rock, which on one side of the 

 yard is a soft deep red sandstone, with a thin band or two of fine conglomerate 1 , the beds dipping 

 35° east-south-east ; on the southern side the section is less clear, owing to dislocated masses of 

 red and green marl, which are subordinate to the sandstone, but apparently the inclination is equally 

 high. The inference to be drawn from this high inclination of the beds of the New Red Sandstone, 

 at a height of four to five hundred feet above the plain, will be pointed out in the chapter upon the 

 Malvern Hills. 



The foundations of many of the houses along the lower terraces of Great Malvern, are excavated 

 hi the deep-red sandstone which overlies the fine conglomerate ; but the succession of strata, in as- 

 cending order, cannot be accurately observed, owing to superficial detritus. Between Great Mal- 

 vern and Worcester the marly or upper division of the New Red System {Keuper) is much expanded, 

 occupying the Old Hills and Madresfield, and overlying the red sandstone we have been consider- 

 ing. To the west and north-west of Worcester these marls are much obscured by gravel, and 

 it is only near the base of the system that we can observe the true relations of the strata, which are 

 occasionally exposed, resting on the ridge of Silurian rocks which connects the Malvern with the 

 Abberley Hills. 



The banks of the Leigh Brook where it issues from the Silurian ridge, north-east of Old Storridge 

 Hill, afford good natural sections of dark red, thick-bedded sandstone, and the sides of the deeply 

 channelled lane ascending towards Patches farm, expose beds of a brecciated conglomerate, dipping at 

 a high angle to the north-east. The chief ingredients of these beds are angular fragments of old 

 rocks, especially of the shelly Caradoc sandstone of the adjoining hill of Old Storridge. They 

 are occasionally imbedded in a red and green calcareous cement, and layers of red and green marl 

 sometimes occur, subordinate to the sandstone and conglomerate. The line of demarcation of the 

 New Red from this spot towards the north, follows the sinuosities of the Silurian ridge, but rises in 

 certain spots, as at Great Malvern, some hundred feet above the plains of Worcester. Between 

 Ravenshill Green andBate's Bush, is a light green, flaggy, micaceous marlstone, with a little gypsum 

 and in the high lands to the north, some of the beds of red and green marl, which overlie the zone 



1 The fragments in this conglomerate vary from the size of walnuts to peas. They consist chiefly of ancient 

 depository rocks and Old Red Sandstone. Syenite is rare in it, and the fragments are small and angular. 



